Classroom
LANGUAGE
Useful phrases in English
For primary and secondary education
A. The beginning of the
lesson
1. Good morning
5. How are you?

How are you today, Jenny?

How are you getting on?

Good morning, everybody

How’s life?

Good afternoon, everybody

How are things with you,

Hello, everyone

Hello there, James
Jenny?

Are you feeling better today,
Jenny?
2. Introductions

My name is Mr/Mrs/Ms Pitts

I’m your new English teacher

Let’s begin our lesson now

I’ll be teaching you English this

Is everybody ready to start?
year

I hope you are all ready for

6. Time to begin
I’ve got two lessons with you
each week
your English lesson

I think we can start now

Now we can get down to work
3. Waiting to start

I’m waiting for you to be quiet

We won’t start until everyone

Close your books
is quiet

Put your books away

Stop talking and be quiet

Pack your things away

Settle down now so we can

Clear your tables, please
7. Put your things away
start
8. Late
4. Register

Where have you been?

We started ten minutes ago.

Who is absent today?

Who isn’t here today?

What’s the matter with Jenny

Did you miss your bus?
today?

Did you oversleep?
What’s wrong with Jenny

Don’t let it happen again

today?

Why were you absent last
Friday Jenny?

For how long have you been ill
Jenny?
What have you been doing?
A. Simple instructions

Let’s check the answers Any
questions?
1. Instructions the class can easily
understand

Come in

Go out

Stand up

Sit down

Come to the front of the class

Stand by your desks

Put your hands up

Put your hands down

Hold up your books/pencils

Show me your pencil

Could you sit up please?
2. Instructions that can be used at the
beginning of a session

Pay attention please

You need pencils/rulers

We’ll learn how to….

Are you ready?

Open your books at page…

Turn to page….

Look at activity five

Listen to the CD player

Repeat after me

Again, please

Everybody….

You have ten minutes to do this

Who’s next?

Like this, not like that.
3. Instructions that can be used at the
end of a lesson

It’s time to finish

Have you finished?

Let’s stop now

Let’s call it the day

Stop now.

Pack up your books

Don’t forget to bring
your….tomorrow

Get your books from the locker
4. Instructions can also be sequenced:

First

Next

After that

Then

Finally
5. Comprehension language:

Are you ready?

Are you with me?

Are you OK?

OK so far?

Do you get it?

Do you understand

What did you say?

One more time, please

Say it again, please

Pack up your books

Are your desks tidy?

Is this OK?

Splendid!
B. The end of the lesson

Be quiet as you leave. Other
classes are still working
1. Time to stop

It’s almost time to stop

I’m afraid it’s time to stop

We’ll have to stop here

There’s the bell. It’s time to
stop

That’s it for today. You can go
now.
2. Wait a minute

Hang on a moment

Just hold on a moment

Stay where you are for a
moment

Just a moment, please

One more thing before…..

Let’s close with prayers.

Back to your places
3. Homework

This is your homework for
tonight

Do exercise 10 on page 23 for
5. Not time to stop

The bell hasn’t gone yet

There are still two minutes to
go

minutes left

We seem to have finished early

The lesson does not finish till
five past

Your watch must be fast

We have an extra five minutes

Sit quietly till the bell goes
6. Next time

Prepare the next chapter for
Monday

There is no homework tonight

Remember your homework

Take a worksheet as you leave
4. Leaving the room

Get into a queue

Form a queue and wait for the
bell

All of you, get outside now!

Hurry up and get outside

Try not to make any noise as
you leave
We’ll do the rest of this chapter
next time

We’ll finish this exercise next
lesson

We’ve run out of time, so we’ll
continue next lesson

We’ll continue this chapter next
Monday
your homework

We still have a couple of
7. Goodbye

Goodbye, everyone

See you again next Wednesday

See you later friends

See you tomorrow afternoon

Have a good holiday

Enjoy your vacation

See you in room 7 after the
break
C. Classroom Management
1. Common situations in which
spontaneous English can be used.

Work on the task together.

Have you finished?

Make groups of four

Do the next activity

Move your desks into groups

There are too many in this
of four people
group

Turn your desks around

Can you join the other group?

Make a circle with your desks

Only three people in each

Make a line of desks facing

each other

Ask others in the class
Make groups of four desks

Ask everyone in the class
facing each other

Stand up and find another

Sit back to back

Work together with your friend

Find a partner

group
partner

Open your books on page 54

Come out and write it on the
Work in pairs / threes / fours /
board
fives

Listen to the tape, please
Work in groups of three / four /

Get into groups of four
five

I would like to write this down

I want you to form groups

Let’s sing a song

Form groups of three

Finish off this song at home

Here are some tasks for you to

Close your eyes
work on in groups of four

Push your chairs (under the


Everybody work individually

Work by yourselves

Put it in my pigeon hole, please

Work on your own

Show me your work later

Ask your neighbour for help

Put a sock in it! 

Now hang on!

Mind your language!

Please switch on the lights

Could you open the window
2. Giving instructions

Could you try the next one?

I would like you to write this
down

Who would like to read?

Do you want to answer
question 5?

Look this way

Stop talking, please
table)
for me please?

Which topic will your group
report be on?

Now answer me please!

First of all, today….

Right, now we will go on to the

Excellent
next exercise

Good boy / girl

Have you done your work?

You did a good job.

For the last thing today, let’s….

What about this word?

Whose turn is it to read?

Who’ s next

Which question are you on?

Splendid

Next one, please

Say that again

Who hasn’t answered yet?

I don’t quite get you

Let me explain what I want you
to do next

The idea of this exercise is for
you to….

You have ten minutes to do this

Your time is up

Finish this by twenty to eleven

Can you all see the board?

Have you found the place?

Are you ready

You may go on to exercise five

Get your books from the locker

Finish this by twenty to eleven

Can you all see the board?

Have you found the place?

Are you all ready?
3. Supervision

Look this way

Stop talking

Listen to what…. is saying

Push your chairs

Leave that alone now

Be careful

Think well before you answer!

Do you understand my
question?
4. Responding to questions

Yes, that’s right

Fine

Almost. Try again

Well done.
D. Explanation
3. Social

Explain it in your own words

It’s spelled with a capital “J”

Can anybody correct this
sentence?

Fill in the missing words

Mark the right alternative
1. Interaction; affective attitudes

That’s interesting

That’s really very kind of you

Don’t worry about it.

Why didn’t you give an
answer?

I was a bit disappointed with
your efforts
2. Reference

After they left the USA, the
soldiers….

The church was started in the
last century

This is a picture of a typically
English castle

In the background you can
see…

While we are on the subject…..

As I said earlier…

Let me sum up

The solution is on page 44

Good morning

Cheerio now

God bless!

Have a nice weekend!

Thanks for your help

Happy birthday!

Many happy returns!

Congratulations!

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy your holidays

You were almost right

That’s almost it

You’re halfway there

You’ve almost got it

You’re on the right lines

There’s no need to rush

There’s no hurry

We have plenty of time

Go on. Give it a try

Keep trying

Have a go

Have a guess

Look this up on the web…

Try to find the answer with the
help of google
E. Error correction
Phrases that can used when giving feedback to pupils / students

There’s nothing wrong with

Very good
your answer

That’s very good
What you said was perfectly

Very fine
alright

Well done
You didn’t make a single

Excellent
mistake

Super

That’s exactly the point

That’s nice

That’s just what I was looking

Well said
for!

I like that

You have a good pronunciation

Marvellous

Your pronunciation is very

You did a great job
good

Magnificent

You are communicating well

Terrific!

You speak very fluently

Wow!

You have made a lot of

Jolly good
progress

Great stuff
Don’t worry about your

Fantastic
Don’t worry a bit about your

Right
spelling

Fine

Don’t worry; it will improve

Quite right

Maybe this will help you

That’s (quite) right

Do you want a clue?

That’s correct

You still have trouble with

Yes, you’ve got it
your….

You’ve got the idea
You need some more practice

It depends.



pronunciation


with these words

Practice these words at home,
please

You’ll have to spend some time
practicing this

You are getting better at it all
the time